Malcolm in the Middle and Atheism

Malcolm in the Middle has been on Netflix Instant for a few weeks now, and I have been working my way through the series.  I had previously seen a couple episodes here and there, mostly while it was airing and some in syndication.  While I always had a positive attitude toward the series, watching it from beginning to end has actually improved my opinion of the show a great deal.  I enthusiastically recommend it to anyone with any level of interest in situation comedy (it is certainly much, much better than the current season of The Office).  However, what really intrigues me about the show is its attitude towards religion.

Jillettean Atheism

In Penn Jillette's best-selling book, God No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales, he poses a simple question before the table of contents.  Titled "You May Already Be An Atheist!" he writes: "If god (however you perceive him/her/it) told you to kill your child - would you do it?  If your answer is no, in my booklet you're an atheist.  There is doubt in your mind.  Love and morality are more important to you than your faith.  If your answer is yes, please reconsider."

I will get to the underpinnings of his logic in a bit, but first let me strongly recommend this book to anyone.  Not just anyone interested in atheism or religion, but anyone who loves good nonfiction writing.  I would argue that the book is not mainly about atheism or religion.  To paraphrase Mr. Jillette again, it's more about how one atheist magician has lived his life in Las Vegas, Nevada.  To be clear, there is plenty of profanity, some very graphic scenes, and even some (sober) bacchanalia.  But what really comes across is Penn Jillette's love of life, and that is beautiful to behold. [More below the fold.]

Save Community!

The main cast.

This is a big change in tone from previous blog posts, but here it goes.  It was recently announced that NBC's spring television schedule will not include Community.  The show's dedicated fans have taken to their Twitter accounts in outrage over this.  Many are sadly predicting that this is an early warning sign of cancellation.  I wanted to take a blog post to defend the show and lend my voice to the Save Community movement.

Community is a brilliant show.  It has great characters, vivid acting, and good week-to-week stories.  The show begins when attorney Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) is disbarred for forging his college degree.  He can only afford to go to Greendale Community College, where he takes an introductory Spanish class.  He quickly, but reluctantly, forms a special bond with his study group, and the show's premise is built from from there.